Conveyer



April 3, 1951 E. LEHMANN coNvEYER Filed OCL. l, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTO R N EY E. LEHMANN April 3, 1951 CONVEYER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 0G13. l, 1946 fr. lll

TTRNEY April 3, 1951 E. LEHMANN 2,547,476

coNvEYER Filed Oct. l, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 HEX .m

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VENTOR Patented Apr. 3, 1951 yEmil "Lehmann, West Englewood, fN. J., l-assignor 'to lWhite Metal Manufacturing Company, 'lHobeken, .I.

Application October 1, 194,6,.,Sleniallm 700,519

(Cl. 'Hi8- 355) 1 Claim. l

My invention relates to conveyors, particularly to conveyors for transferring metal slugs or blanks, for examplathose from which collapsible tubes are stamped, `from a lower supply bin to a hopper for feeding to .a tube stamping machine.

My invention 'relates more particularly to a conveyor pf the endless chain and bucket type for lifting metallic blanks from the lower conn tainer to the feeding hopper.

@wing to the density and .the flat shape ci metallic blanks of the above type and their resistance to downward displacement and to flow, it is not practicable to `lill a bucket of a traveling conveyor by causing it to dip downwardly into a mass of the blanks.

My present invention provides a ,mechanism whereby the buckets of the lconveyor pass in succession yadjacent to a Supply hopper or container from which metallic blanks are supplied in limited numbers to the successive buckets.

In my present invention the metallic blanks to be conveyer are contained in a supply hopper having a continuous upright or vertical wall which extends downwardly below the bottom of the bucket.

A notch is provided in the wall above the upper part of the hopper from which extends a downwardly v inclined chute, the lower or delivery end of which terminates adjacent the path of the bucket to be filled,

A plunger is provided adjacent the upright wall of the hopper and moves from a lowermost position, with its upper face at or below the bottom of the hopper, upwardly to the level of the notch. The upper face of the plunger is inclined so as to form a trough carrying a number of lmetallic: blanks upwardly and to cause them to slide through the notch to the discharge chute.

An endless chain having buckets at spaced intervals is so placed as to pass in succession upwardly at the lowermost end of the chute to receive the successive groups of blanks discharged to the chute. Preferably the buckets pass upwardly through a guide as they approach the end of the chute.

Also the reciprocation of the plunger may be synchronized with the movement o the .conveyor chain to cause a discharge of a group of blanks as each successive bucket comes into position below the lower end of the chute. The buckets are then carried upwardly by the chain and about guiding sprockets which give the chain a downward inclination and cause the buckets to tilt forwardly suiiiciently to discharge the blanks.

2 For this purpose the `buckets are of sector shape in vertical section so fas to provide -a downwardly inclined wail after they pass over the lguide sprockets.

The buckets are 4preferably Ypivoted at their upper ends and are secured at :their lower ends by a pin and slot Vconnection `so arranged that as lthey leave vor pass Jover the guiding sprocket they are given a sudden 'or abrupt inclination tending to throw the blanks out of the buckets.

After c'being discharged from the buckets the blanks Ffall into a feeding hopper 'by gravity then int-o 'the tube forming machine.

The Avarious embodiments of the invention are illustrated, vby way -of 'exam-plein the accompanying drawings in which- Fig 1 isa 4vertical elevation of -a conveyor embody-ing 1a 'preferred Aform of the invention as applied 'to Ya tube Jforming machine;

Fig. t2 is an elevation of Vthe apparatus taken from the lef-t of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 4is a side `view on a larger scale of the bucket and section of the chain of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. `l is a `section taken 'on line vA--ll -of Fig. 3;

Fig. L5 is a vertical section taken on line 5 5 of Fig. `2 on a larger scale of the llower part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a section on a larger scale taken on the line E-i of Fig. 2;

Fig. f7 is `a section taken on the line 1-1 of Fig. `l.

ing vhopper lI from which the blanks are then fed to a guide l2 leading to a tube forming machine I3.

'The 'blanks are lifted from the lower supply hopper Il) to the feed hopper II by means of an endless conveyor comprising a pair of chains I4 and I5, and at regularly spaced intervals sector shaped buckets it are positioned between the chains I4 and I5.

The endless chain passes in an upper or vertical length or reach :Il extending from a lowermost sprocket Ill to an uppermost sprocket I9 and thence in a downwardly inclined path or reach above a guiding chute 2s to a sprocket 2l and thence downwardly and about sprockets 22 and 23 to the lowermost sprocket I8. Immediately above the sprocket I8 the buckets are enclosed in their upward movement in a guide 24.

The supply hopper I!! is provided with a straight upright wall 25, Figs. 1 and 5, preferably a vertical wall. This wall extends downwardly below the bottom of the hopper. Below the hopper also extends a guide wall 26 spaced to receive and guide a vertical reciprocable plunger 21.

Near the upper edge of the hopper I the wall is provided with a notch 28 from which a chute 29 extends in a downwardly inclined direction to the guide 24 and in position to deliver into the upwardly moving buckets I6.

The plunger 21 is reciprocated in a vertical direction by means of a rotating crank arm or disc 30 to which it is connected by means of a pin 3l and a link 32 extending to the crank pin 33 of the crank arm. The crank arm or disc 30 may be mounted on a rotatably driven shaft 34.

With each rotation of the shaft 34 the plunger 21 moves from the lowermost position with its upper face at or below the bottom of the hopper I0 upwardly to a position at or above the notch 28. The upper face 35 of the plunger 21 is inclined downwardly toward the plate 25 to form a pocket into which the blanks slide when the face 35 is at or below the bottom of the hopper IIJ. As the plunger moves upwardly the blanks are carried to or above the notch 28 and, therefore, slide onto the chute 29 and downwardly over this chute into an upwandly advancing bucket. In this way successive bucketfuls of blanks are delivered from the supply hopper I0 to the successive buckets I6.

It will be noted that the blanks will fall into the bucket I6 in any position in the guide 24. It is, however, preferable toso synchronize the movement of the plunger 21 with the upward movement of the bucket I9 that the blanks will slide from the chute 29 into each bucket as the latter approaches the lower end of the chute 29. This may be accomplished by driving the chains I4 and I5 and the shaft 34 from a common source of power through a suitable driving means.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated the shaft 34 may, for example be driven from a sprocket 36 mounted on the main shaft 31 of the tube forming machine. For this purpose power is supplied from the sprocket 36 to a chain 38 to a sprocket 39 rotatably mounted on the shaft 34. The sprocket 39 may be clutched to the shaft 34 by means of a clutch 40. In this way the crank arm or disc 30 may be driven from the main shaft 31 of the tube forming machine.

The chains I4 and I5 of the conveyor are driven from the shaft 34 by means of a sprocket 4i xed thereon and connected by means of a chain 42, Figs. 1, 2 and 5, to a sprocket 43 fixed on a shaft 44 on which the lowermost sprockets I 8 are mounted. In this way the plunger 21 and the chains are driven in synchronism from the shaft 34.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 6, each of the buckets I6 is formed of an outer wall 45, an inclined wall 46 and a pair of side walls 41 to form a sector shaped hopper. The side walls 41 are extended as at 46 beyond the inclined wall 46 to a position between the chains I4 and I5 and are pivoted near their upper ends to the chains by means of pins 49.

BIS

At the lower end of the extensions 48 are formed slots 59 lying within the length of the chain and a circular arc 5I. A connectingpin 52 extends through the slots 50 and is connected at each end to the chains I4 and I5.

As each bucket passes upwardly over the sprocket I9 and is brought to an inclined position, it will pivot downwardly about the pin 49, as shown in Fig. 6, until the connecting rod or pin 52 reaches the upper end of the slot. This action takes place because the chord between the pin 49 and rod 52 is shorter than the curvature of the chain corresponding to the normal straight line distance between 49 and 52. As the chain leaves sprockets I9 and straightens the normal distance between 49 and 52 is resumed and the bucket is thrown upwardly thus aiding in the discharge of the blanks into the chute delivering into the hopper II. This insures against any of the blanks being retained in the buckets in passing over the hopper I I.

It will be apparent that the plunger 21 may slide freely upwardly and downwardly through the hopper I0 inasmuch as its length is sucient to extend below the bottom of the hopper Il) at all times and prevent any blanks from wedging between the lower end of the plunger and the bottom of the hopper I0. With each reciprocation of the plunger it lifts a blank, or a number of blanks, upwardly to the chute 29 whereupon they slide downwardly and fall into the respective buckets I6. The blanks are, therefore, elevated and conveyed to the feeding hopper II without the necessity for the buckets to dip into and displace the blanks in the supply hopper I0 and without danger of cutting or injuring the blanks.

What I claim is:

A supply mechanism which comprises an inclined chute, a hopper below the upper end of said chute having a notch in one wall to receive said upper end of said chute, a plunger having its upper surface inclined in the direction of said chute and movable upwardly and downwardly through the bottom of said hopper to bring its upper face from the bottom of said hopper to the upper end of said chute, a series of conveyor buckets, an endless conveyor carrying said buckets successively to receiving position at the lower end of said chute, and a common drive for said conveyor and said plunger to bring a bucket to receiving position in timed relation to the upward movement of said plunger.

EMIL LEHMANN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 311,335 Levalley Jan. 27, 1885 641,759 Buie et al Jan. 23, 1900 1,071,941 Mix Sept. 2, 1913 1,134,669 Chiniquy et al Apr. 6, 1915 1,370,511 Boercker Mar. 8, 1921 1,702,432 Furbush Feb. 19, -1929 2,016,793 Tveit Oct. 8, 1935 

